Comments for https://srta.org.uk/wp
improving rail travel for people in the Sevenoaks areaTue, 07 Aug 2018 06:40:20 +0000hourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8Comment on All-day Maidstone East to Cambridge “Thameslink” service from 2018 by West Malling residenthttps://srta.org.uk/wp/posts/1775#comment-1573
Tue, 07 Aug 2018 06:40:20 +0000http://srta.org.uk/wp/?p=1775#comment-1573Would anyone have any further update on this proposed service? I fear it will be quietly shelved. Is there anywhere we can apply pressure to ensure that it isn’t?

]]>Comment on Caught short at Shoreham? by Gerryhttps://srta.org.uk/wp/posts/3148#comment-1571
Mon, 06 Aug 2018 11:06:04 +0000http://srta.org.uk/wp/?p=3148#comment-1571The onboard announcement says that you have to be in the front seven coaches but that’s not very helpful when, unlike on Southeastern’s 375s, it doesn’t tell you the number of the coach you are in. Fearing it was a 12-coach train, that necessitated a quick sprint through five coaches !

It’s equally crazy when boarding from rear of the southbound platform where the shelter is. You press the button but the doors refuse to open, so it’s a sprint along the platform to the next set of doors – which also refuse to open.

It’s all a bit Thameslink…

]]>Comment on Senior Railcard Moments July 2018: Look Bath, In Ongar by Tim Chttps://srta.org.uk/wp/posts/3135#comment-1569
Fri, 03 Aug 2018 09:50:57 +0000http://srta.org.uk/wp/?p=3135#comment-1569Have you encountered the complexity of using railcards with ticketing machines for the earliest trains in the morning? For example, from Sevenoaks, the 0918 is an off-peak train, but, on the day at, say 0915, the simple ‘buy a ticket’ does not offer off-peak travel. Allegedly, you can get the discount and apply a railcard, if you buy the ticket ‘for future travel’. Alternatively, you can buy the peak-rate ticket and request a discount (!?)
]]>Comment on What’s the point of a timetable? by Secretaryhttps://srta.org.uk/wp/posts/3140#comment-1567
Thu, 02 Aug 2018 19:37:24 +0000http://srta.org.uk/wp/?p=3140#comment-1567@cheryl Train companies are now subject to the Consumer Rights Act, and so you can claim actual losses – including consequentials – rather than “Delay Repay” if you have, for instance, had to be pay for a cab. In our experience this often works out, although you normally have to appeal the first-instance refusal by Southeastern’s “customer service centre” and the Train Companies are not transparent about customers’ rights and what is actually paid. See https://srta.org.uk/wp/posts/1938
]]>Comment on What’s the point of a timetable? by Cheryl Newtonhttps://srta.org.uk/wp/posts/3140#comment-1566
Thu, 02 Aug 2018 16:40:33 +0000http://srta.org.uk/wp/?p=3140#comment-1566Thought the very same thing this morning when I heard the ‘new’ announcement. Just another way of peeing off us poor long suffering commuters and making their lives easier. A bit like the ‘we won’t give you a refund if we’re 29 minutes late, you’ve missed all your onward connections and had to pay for a cab’ policy. If you can’t run a decent service make it as hard for the customer as you can and then blame them! Isn’t that how it works with most service providers these days?!
]]>Comment on What’s the point of a timetable? by Paulahttps://srta.org.uk/wp/posts/3140#comment-1565
Thu, 02 Aug 2018 13:30:47 +0000http://srta.org.uk/wp/?p=3140#comment-1565Couldn’t agree more! I did get an apology once after the Bromley North to Grove Park train left one minute and 20 seconds early, just as I was reaching for the door, having walked all the way up the platform in full view of the driver (via his platform mirror that they are supposed to check for safety reasons). It’s annoying enough at Bromley North already, because Southeastern now park the train quite a distance short of the terminus end of the platform, which is where you enter the station, forcing everyone to walk quite a way to reach the train (takes about 30 seconds at normal walking speed). Presumably this is in order to save on petrol money or entertain themselves by slamming the doors in people’s faces after they have made the long walk. Wonder if I would still get an apology for that early drive-off now?
]]>Comment on What’s the point of a timetable? by Gerryhttps://srta.org.uk/wp/posts/3140#comment-1564
Thu, 02 Aug 2018 12:46:28 +0000http://srta.org.uk/wp/?p=3140#comment-1564I’ve never understood this absurd policy of publishing fake departure times and then having to warn people endlessly that they’ll be left behind if they don’t board earlier. It may have been realistic in the days of wind-up watches when everyone erred on the side of caution, but it’s completely unrealistic in the digital era.

The obvious solution is that the published departure time should remain in the format xx:00 but the railway’s working timetable should be xx:00½, xx:00¾ or whatever.

Sorted !

]]>Comment on All-day Maidstone East to Cambridge “Thameslink” service from 2018 by West Malling residenthttps://srta.org.uk/wp/posts/1775#comment-1551
Thu, 05 Jul 2018 06:08:43 +0000http://srta.org.uk/wp/?p=1775#comment-15514 carriages today – standing room only.
]]>Comment on Senior Railcard Moments June 2018 by barry gigghttps://srta.org.uk/wp/posts/3113#comment-1550
Wed, 04 Jul 2018 15:21:30 +0000http://srta.org.uk/wp/?p=3113#comment-1550On the Lewes trip a slightly later arrival and it’s only £10.65 return from Sevenoaks via St Leonards Warrior Square
]]>Comment on Southeastern and Thameslink Customer Service: Pay Peanuts, …. by Mike Pellatthttps://srta.org.uk/wp/posts/3118#comment-1549
Mon, 02 Jul 2018 11:44:16 +0000http://srta.org.uk/wp/?p=3118#comment-1549An article in this month’s Modern Railways suggests that when National Rail centralised all the timetabling function to Milton Keynes, many of the well-experienced timetabling planners from the previous locations said “no thanks”

Combine the resultant lack of local knowledge with a view at the top that what the computer says works, and this timetable disaster is what results.

Woolwich Arsenal to Dartford is another one for you. Used to be 14 and 16 minute intervals offpeak. Now 4 and 26. So from a turn-up-and-go service to a a gotta plan the journey service. You couldn’t make it up.